garciamedia

Nov. 16th This week again: Mario the grandfather

As you all know, I welcomed my 10th grandchild, David Mario Lazaro, into the world Nov. 10.

Since then, I have been helping my daughter Elena (David’s mom) with her other two children, Sophia and Danny.  In the process, I am gaining incredible respect for the work of moms who juggle a dozen things. I thought I was a multi tasker, but, THIS is real multi tasking.

My day starts getting Sophia ready for school (she is in kindergarten), and I follow the list my daughter has prepared for me (except that I sneak Oreo cookies into her snack pack, contrary to Elena’s best advice, what are grandpas for?).  Then one hour later, I prepare Danny for his pre-school day, and make sure that he has his favorite DVD playing in the back of the car on the way to school. Yes, he is the one who taught me how to turn on the machine, how to insert the DVD, and tells me when it is over and a new one needs to be put in.

By noon, I am picking up Danny, then treat him to a MacDonald’s lunch (Mom Elena does not do that), and I know all about Happy Meals and the entire set of Madagascar movie animals.
Yes, he desperately wants the penguin, but so far no luck getting it. Maybe tomorrow.

In between,  I help Elena with other things around the house, then comes afternoon homework (I am happy to see that caligraphy has a place in the kindergarten curriculum again). Soon, it is playtime, then dinner and a bath, and bedtime storytelling.  Sophia is into princesses, so when I have read every possible princess story in the books, I make up stories of my own, which she relishes, especially if I tell her about far away places that she can only imagine (try India), but that I visit frequently.  Danny likes stories about robots, with which I am not familiar, so I have made up a story about the encounter of a big turtle and an alligator in the river behind my house, and he asks for that fictional account time and time again.  And, although he knows the ending, his eyes always express the amazement of the first time I told him the story.

And, yes, I try to find a one hour window to do my run, although there is no specific schedule for that, so I take it as it comes.

My daughter asked me today if I missed the flying, the hotels, the work, and she said: Dad, it would be great if you were retired and here all the time.

But, of course, if that was the case I could not spoil the kiddies with Oreo cookies and trips to MacDonalds everyday. Or I would run out of stories about turtles, alligators and Indian princesses.

It was the great Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who said that grandchildren are God’s dessert to man.

Indeed, and I am savoring the sweetness of mine daily.

Oh, yes, baby David Mario is a joy to look out as he sleeps peacefully through it all.

TheMarioBlog posting #138

Posted by Dr. Mario R. Garcia on November 16, 2008